Cuit Pineda (jr) of Northside Prep is one of only 2 CPS runners to break the 10:00 mark in the 3200 meter run this year.
My oh my has city distance running improved! To illustrate this let's look at the 3200 meter run city championship results:
1 Mora, Jose 10 Payton Prep 10:08.75
2 Coronel, Ivan 11 Mather HS 10:16.14
3 Kittaka, Jonathan 11 Northside Colleg 10:25.87
4 Terrazas, Victor 10 Lane Tech 10:27.38
5 Pineda-Youniss, Cuitlahu 10 Northside Colleg 10:27.66
6 Gonzalez, Gerardo 12 Lane Tech 10:35.70
7 Cetera, Jacob 12 Lincoln Park 10:56.40
8 Mattingly, Henry 12 Lincoln Park 11:05.63
7 runners finished below 11:00. By contrast, at least 21 runners have run below 11:00 in the 3200 meter run thus far this year. Two runners, Kulayfi Haji of Lane Tech and Cuit Pineda of Northside have already broken 10:00.
So what this means is that the 3200 meter run is going to go gangbusters this year.
While, the 3200 seedings are not in yet, I'll give my best preview of what to expect in the 3200 meter and 1600 meter run. I'm assuming the following runners run the 1600 and 3200.
Top Dogs
Cuit Pineda, Northside Prep; Kulayfi Haji, Lane Tech; and Jose Mora of Payton
The winner of the 3200 meter and 1600 meter run will probably come from a group of runners that I call the top dogs. This trio of juniors have all improved from last year and are all higly proven. I'll start with Cuit Pineda of Northside. Pineda ran a 9:47 in the 3200 meter run at the Deerfield Classic to lead the CPS Leaderboard. He's been running the fastest times all season for distance ruch school Northside Prep. Then we have defending 1600 meter champ Kulayfi Haji of Lane Tech. Haji also has the distinction of the CPS's only class AAA cross country state qualifier last fall. He has been running some blazing times this year as well. The final top dog is Jose Mora of Payton. Mora is known as one of the hardest workers in the CPS. His hard work paid off big tiem last spring when he upset Ivan Coronel of Mather to win the 3200 meter run last fall. Mora also qualified for state last fall in cross country. All three top dogs have the talent to run the 1600 meter run below 4:25 and the 3200 meter run below 9:38 this year. It may take that kind of time to win in the much improved CPS this year.
Always dangerous dogs
Ivan Coronel (sr) of Mather; Charlie Mesimore(so) of Northside Prep; Victor Terrazas (jr) of Lane
After the top dogs, you have the next group of runners which I call the always dangerous dogs. This group includes Ivan Coronel of Mather, Charlie Mesimore of Northside Prep, and Victor Terrazas of Lane Tech. Of the three Ivan Coronel always seems overllooked but at the end always performs. It's hard to say that Coronel is overllooked, he is after all won the city cross country individual championship last fall. But, Coronel has been a distance star in the city since he broke out with a 2nd place individual finish in cross country his sophomore year. He is capable of running a big race and "upsetting" any of the top dogs. Charlie Mesimore of Northside will likely run the 3200 and 1600 at city. He has not any eye opening times this year thus far, but I would not count him out. He ended up as Northside's #1 runner in cross country last fall- and he is only a sophomore. Rounding out the always dangerous dogs is Victor Terrazas of Lane Tech. The junior has always been overshadowed by top dog teammate Kulayfi Haji, but few people remember he finished 4th in the city last year in the 3200 meter run.
Dark Dogs
Romeo Jurardo of Lakeview; Jacob Cetera (sr) of Lincoln Park; Griffin Kelly (sr) of Jones
The city has an abundance of runners that I call "Dark Dogs". The dark dogs usually get overlooked either because they do not come from the traditional distance schools in the city : Lane Tech, Whitney Young, Northside, and Mather. Or a dark dog goes to one of the distance schools but is overshadowed by more talked about teammates.
List of dark dogs capable of scoring at city (no order)
Jonathon Kittaka (sr) - Northside Prep
Romeo Jurardo (sr) - Lake View
Jacob Cetera (sr) - Lincoln Parl
Griffin Kelly (sr) - Jones
Choate Sean (sr) - Chicago Academy
Cooper Eben (jr) - Northside Prep
Bana Negash (fr) - Mather
Omar Caban (sr) - Mather
Julian Deville (so) - Whitney Young
Omar Tall (so) - Kenwood
Dominique Crutcher (fr) - Harlan
Abe Haji (fr) - Mather
City Championship 2009 Info Page
Sprints Preview
Middle Distance Preview
how about a field events preview?
Posted by: nmd | April 29, 2009 at 09:21 PM
Jose Mora has been working very hard and has the desire to win the mile or the two mile.
Posted by: John Kamenach | April 30, 2009 at 08:48 PM
True, but the same can also be said of Kulayifi Haji and Cuit Pineda. So we'll just have to wait until city to who will be the best.
Posted by: only two more weeks | April 30, 2009 at 11:29 PM
how good is cuit pineda? Has he ever raced against mora or haji? What did he run during cross country?
Posted by: John Kamenach | May 03, 2009 at 11:35 AM
He hasnt raced them in 3200 this year; I remember earlier at the Mather invite he beat Mora in 1600 after Mora ran a 10:01 for 3200, but I think that was the only race they were both in. he didnt do as well as he did sophomore year in cross country, but i would leave cross country out of this years track season, many of the runner's cross country performances have not really reflected their track performances.
Posted by: :: | May 03, 2009 at 01:01 PM
he ran a 15:36 3 mile the week after sectionals for xc last year. but thats the fastest hes ever gone for xc
Posted by: ff3f3f3f | May 03, 2009 at 03:32 PM